Afterburn
by sllebswap
Summary: EiRin Dragon Heart!Verse freestyle one-shot ft. Knight!Eishi and Dragon!Rindou. She is always grumpy when shedding season comes around.


**Title:** Afterburn

 **Author:** sllebswap

 **Characters/Pairing:** Kobayashi Rindou and Tsukasa Eishi

 **Type:** One-Shot (Complete)

 **Genre:** Romance/General

 **Word Count:** 2685

 **Rating:** T (Contains content not suitable for children)

 **Disclaimer:** Shokugeki no Souma belongs to Tsukuda-san.

 **Summary:** Dragon Heart!Verse. \ ˈaf-tər-ˌbərn \ 1. a hot, spicy, or burning sensation that remains in the mouth after consumption of a food or beverage. 2. a period of lingering anger, fear, bitterness, etc., that follows a painful or traumatic event. 3. the consumption of calories by the body in the period following exercise. Rindou is always grumpy when shedding season comes around.

 **Verse:** Fantasy Medieval AU – Dragon Heart

 **Chapter Last Revised on:** 20/07/18

* * *

"…You're…sick?"

He sounded bewildered by the very notion.

 _Do dragons even get sick?_

Huddled in a ball of misery in bed, she peeled open one eye and gave him a slit pupiled, gimlet stare. She looked nothing like the big scary reptilian legend from yore at the moment; appeared sorrier looking than terrifying, actually, buried under several layers of blankets with only her ruffled head sticking out.

She hadn't wanted him to see her like this, but he had refused to leave her be until she unlatched her door and let him in, and hence he was subjected to the rare sight of her wretched self. Currently stuck in the form that was half dragon and half human, she was aware of how hideous she looked at the moment; her brilliant crimson hair limp, lank and messy like some unkempt bird nest was sitting on top of her head, the small slivers of typically glistening quicksilver, metallic sunset scales arrayed across her cheeks now dull and faded.

She looked unwell.

"M'not sick," she mumbled with insistence, curling under the covers and just wishing that he would go away and leave her be. She sniffled, her nose ticklish and promptly contradicting her denial. Rindou quickly reached up with claw tipped fingers to pinch her nose shut, trying to quell that terrible urge to sneeze.

It would _not_ be a good idea to sneeze now, in this form of hers.

Eishi was concerned. She was definitely _not_ 'not-sick.' She had been subdued and moody the last few days, and he had wondered if he had done anything inadvertently to upset her even more than he already had. There were still plenty about dragons that he was unlearned about, and not knowing what to do made him feel very useless. She had always come to his rescue so blithely and instinctively every time he was in trouble; not being to reciprocate even in this seemingly small manner made him feel exceedingly unworthy and inept.

"Is there anything you need? Can I do something to make you feel better?" he offered, reaching out cautiously to touch her hair. His tentative action was not out of repulsion or fear, but born from a delicacy and worry of possibly further upsetting her – she wasn't being very communicative or cooperative at the moment. He pressed on gamely all the same, especially when it became clear that she wasn't going to bite his hand off.

"M'fine," she insisted again, her eye closing. She curled tighter into herself, too used to riding out this aggravating phase on her own like she had always done to expect otherwise. "I don't need anythin'. Go 'way."

He was silent for a while; it stung a bit, how she bluntly rejected his attempt to help, how she still tended to shut him out sometimes, but Eishi tried not to be disheartened, and he could be stubborn too, whenever he needed to. He was still very determined to court this cantankerous dragoness, after all.

"I'm not going anywhere," he responded. Sure enough, he pulled her covers back, and the edge of her mattress dipped as he climbed into bed beside her. It was awkward – he felt self-conscious, for he was not used to intruding on a maiden's modesty like so. But they had shared a bed before, months ago when they first met. He still remembered her warmth, her softness as she went to him and nestled willingly in his arms…

She had ignored his protests of propriety back then, so he would arguably do the same now. And she might not be as receptive to him as she once had in the past, but he was also aware that if she truly did not want him near, then she would not hesitate to let him know that he was unwelcome.

There was no _making_ a dragoness submit to anything that she did not want, after all.

Rindou's eyes opened, sharpened, and she looked at him silently, not expecting his boldness. But she also did not claw at him or physically evict him from her bed, so he quickly laid down beside her, turned to his side and faced her.

"What are you doing?" she demanded in a muffled, nasally tone. She seemed genuinely confused by his action.

"I'm staying until you feel better," he replied. He would not deny that this was an opportunity to be close to her – she had been as prickly as cacti ever since they reunited under tenuous circumstances and he would be a fool to miss this chance. His arms ached to hold her again; maybe she would relent and let him entice her back into his embrace...

Wooing a dragoness was no easy task, especially when she had already been stung and spooked once by him. He was very careful now when making his moves, but if he was too conservative and _gentle_ , she tended to slip past him easily and quickly edge away, distancing herself warily. He was learning to be more…forceful, more assertive in cornering this aloof, elusive female.

"Why?" she asked. "I must be repulsive and terrifying to you, so what are you trying to prove?"

He _looked_ at her. Horns, scales, claws. Wings, tail, fangs.

In her current form, she still retained most of her human shape and features…only with some….reptilian accessories that most would do a double take at…but which only served to accentuate her exotic appearance. An unforgettable reminder that she was something breathtakingly, beautifully _wild_. He was baffled by her question. _Compared to some of the more monstrous, monolithic forms of Tootsuki's other dragonic allies, she actually looked normal enough…?_

"…I don't think that you're repulsive, or terrifying."

She glowered at him, already testy from her condition. "So you still desire me, even after knowing that I have a form like _this_?"

Lavender eyes slowly darkened.

"Yes."

Her gaze sharpened, and her disbelieving glare grew basilisk like.

" _Lies_ ," she hissed, elongated incisors briefly glinting, and then, she was about done with him, ready to turn her back when he lifted his arms towards her and spread them apart, his expression still deceptively placid, even when in reality he was nervous; he did not want to end up alienating her even more than he already had.

"Try me," he insisted, and there was a deliberately, faintly challenging tone in his voice, and she looked at him incredulously. _What was his angle?_

"You seem to be more terrified of me right now," he observed softly, and this time he was careful not to push her too hard. The ring of truth in his comment would be enough.

She stiffened, slit gold eyes flashing.

"I'm _not_ scared of you!"

He did not need to say 'prove it.' It was all in the look in his eyes, the way his arms still remained so steady and open, waiting for her.

She was like a wary animal, hovering over the instinct to fight or flight, and he knew what he wanted her to choose. He did not want her to retreat from him any more…

After a long silence, her eyes narrowed, and her chin went up in a subtly bullish manner. _She took the bait._ She moved in, bristling righteously for she had a point to make, an axe to grind, to prove that he was just full of it. Surely, _surely_ , his true feelings of disgust and distaste would reveal themselves once she forced him to confront them face on.

But instead of tensing in alarm when the half human, half dragon maiden moved into his arms, Eishi relaxed, the tension leaking out of him, replaced by relief. And quiet, unfurling _happiness_. She hadn't rejected him.

Her head was tilted back slightly, watching him with that challenging, slightly heckling stare. She had expected that he would flinch and recoil, seeing her unhuman features close up like this. But he did not.

 _He did…not?_

… _What?_

His arms curled quickly around her, as if he did not want to wait for her to change her mind and slip away from him again; she stiffened a bit, visibly bewildered when he pulled her close, all but pressing her against his chest. She did not know what to make of his obviously affectionate reaction, stilling in a nonplussed manner as he pressed his face into her hair, inhaling her scent and greedily taking in her proximity.

"You still feel as soft as that time up in the mountains," he mumbled after a long, _long_ gratified pause. "You still smell like wild strawberries…"

"You still own my heart."

For him, this was it. _She_ was it. Simple as that.

Rindou was stiffening again.

 _Oh no_ , she wasn't going to be tricked by him again a second time. For someone who was usually so stoic and reserved, he sure was good at flooring her with his words. Her hands came up between them, and she looked like she was intent on shoving him away. She had made a wrong move. He was wilier than she had assumed, trying to soften her like this.

"I don't wanna hear _that_ from you anymore-"

But he held her tighter and refused to let her go. She squeaked a bit when he squeezed her in his arms.

"Calm down," he told her, and she bristled a bit at his unusually assertive demeanor. "Even if you don't like me very much now, at least let me make you feel better," he continued, trying his best to speak calmly over the sharpness of her aggravation. Her thorns hurt him, but he would press them all against his flesh if it meant that she would let him stay beside her. "Pretend I'm somebody else. Use me as you wish, but please let me help you."

"Don't tell me what to do," she blustered grumpily, still feeling both riled up and off balanced by him… _but what else was new?_

He wisely held his tongue because it seemed that no matter what he said or did lately always seemed to irk her, so in this case, discretion was the better part of valor. It appeared to work, for she wasn't tearing herself out of his arms anymore, and after a long simmering hesitation, appeared to be gingerly, cautiously settling down like a restless, edgy feline. Her grudging concession gave him some hope, mainly because however much she seemed to not like him at the moment, even she could not entirely deny this tangible _connection_ that existed between them both, that tugged on them and pulled them together regardless of their complicated situation. Or maybe she just did not want to be alone now, and he was the closest approximation of company that she was willing to put up with.

Whichever it was, he would take it.

Eishi instinctively, quietly, nosed her hair, content that she was so close by. She turned her head and gave him a beleaguered stare.

"Don't think I won't _bite_ you if you try anything funny."

He was faintly taken aback by her belligerent distrust.

"I don't intend to," he told her honestly.

She gave him the evil eye for a few beats longer, but Eishi was too happy that she was staying put in his arms to care. He was blatantly taking advantage of her momentary weakness, but at this point, he was also willing to try anything if it gave him a sporting chance of getting back into her good books.

At last, she huffed and looked away, the vibrating tension and suspicion slowly bleeding away. She was studiously ignoring his stare then, but she pressed close and curled into him. Her hands fisted into the front of his tunic. She was so prickly, he could not help but think, though somehow, her reticence only made him more determined to win her affections back.

It was quiet for a while, at least until Rindou's nose twitched again with forewarning that came too late. Her watery eyes widened, and she quickly lifted her head from his chest and turned away-

" _A-chooo!"_

The small torrent of orangey, fiery flames that briefly blazed out of her open mouth less than a mere foot away startled him, not that he could be blamed. Thankfully, she drew away in time and managed to direct the fire's trajectory overhead, and the resulting heatwave served to warm up the cold room, followed by a vaguely sweet scent of pure Sulphur slowly dissipating in the air. He went utterly still, inwardly flabbergasted.

"…Was that _fire_?"

She gave him a baleful stare for asking the obvious and huffed. A ring of smoke floated out from between her parted fangs. He tried not to _stare_.

 _Ah_. Dragoness, he reminded himself, trying to take it all in stride. She was dragon, and dragon breathed fires. _Dragonfires_. It shouldn't be entirely _shocking_ to him, since this was what he had signed up for…

Rindou was rubbing her nose and sniffling blearily again. There was no denying it now, that something was indeed not quite right with her. In the first place, her _sneezing_ _fire_ did not seem deliberate on her part…

" _You're_ sick."

"M'not!" she denied again, still testy as ever. " _M'molting_."

He lifted his head to stare at her, completely befuddled.

"What?"

She growled in frustration, a throaty sound that erupted from her chest and intrigued him. "I'm _molting_ ," she repeated more clearly this time, frowning. "I'm shedding, my scales are falling out to make way for new growth."

… _Oh_.

No wonder she seemed irritated and visibly uncomfortable…and also physically rumpled at the moment. He was nonplussed for a bit, not sure how to respond.

"Does this…molting happens often?"

She was already resigned to the understanding that he wasn't planning to leave her alone. Maybe if she answered his questions as fast as she could, he'd finally be quiet and let her sleep.

"Every year," she replied. "And I get tired and my skin feels too tight and it _hurts_ too muchwhen I'm in my human form so I have to change to this." There was a small unconscious whine that accompanied the end of her sentence, and one that he paid attention to.

"Will it be better if you turn full dragon…?"

She shook her head, snuffling into his shoulder. To his credit, he did not flinch away from the danger, even with the knowledge that she was very _volatile_ right now, in all meanings of the word.

"No difference. I'd just be sheddin' a lotta scales everywhere and makin' a mess everywhere and feelin' grumpy and _gigantic_ …"

She was downright miserable, and it did not help matters whatsoever that she always had a lot of trouble retaining and regulating her body heat during this all too bothersome, aggravating period.

He was at a loss for a while, not sure how to make her feel better. At last, he started to pet her hair, at first awkwardly, feeling rather redundant and very self-conscious the entire way, but she did not turn on him suddenly and snap in protest, and seemed to be taking his wordless response of sympathy well enough… There obviously wasn't anything that he could do to alleviate her discomfort at this point, beyond serving as a distraction. His movements slowed, took on a slow, calming rhythm, gently carding through the tousled red strands of her wild tresses, carefully working out the tangles with his adroit fingers, and he repeated the soothing motions until her fidgeting grew lesser, and she snuggled into his side, slowly relaxing, her eyes closing. Her slender but spiked, prehensile tail curled loosely around his ankle, and her leathery wings, folded tightly against her back, twitched with lazy contentment.

"I still don't like you a lot right now," she mumbled, drifting off, just so that he was clear where they both stood with each other. Or in this case, where they both _laid_. "I'm just using ya 'coz you're convenient and warm, is all."

He paused in the midst of stroking her hair.

"…That's alright. I'll still like you regardless of what you do, so use me all you want."

* * *

 _::owari::_

* * *

 **Questions That I Would Like To Answer Before You Ask:**

I was in the mood to write grumpy!Rindou but I was also craving something fluffy/achy, so this ended up a mix of everything.

Fun fact - Reptiles molt at regular intervals, so I don't see why dragons would be any different. The process of molting/shedding is not enjoyable at all and I'd imagine the whole thing would feel like a very BAD sunburn. Whenever my vine snakes molt, they get so hissy and cranky and just want to be left alone to do their business in peace, so I don't know whether Eishi is being brave or just plain reckless for bearding his lady dragon in her grumpy den, lol.

 **xXxXxXxXxX**

Your reviews make me update faster; so please leave a comment if you like this fic!

-sllebswap


End file.
